An Afternoon at Spenard Beach Park

On Saturday, Rebecca wanted to do something as a family, so we spent the morning running errands. After lunchtime and naptime we packed the kids up on bikes, and into the bike trailers and headed off for a ride. We rode a half mile to Spenard Beach Park at Lake Hood. It is one of our favorite places for a quick family trip. For those who don’t know, Lake Hood is the world’s busiest seaplane base and is part of the Anchorage International Airport. Actually, there was a seaplane base before there was an airstrip.

The Spenard Beach Park borders the northeast shore of the lake. It is rather small and only has a swing set and some picnic tables. After a few minutes of swinging the kids had found the water. They promptly began building dams. Every minute, at least one float plane taxied past sending wakes over their walls. They were kept busy rebuilding and fortifying their dams. We had a lot of fun and I was able to give the kids some pointers on building brake waters.

When we weren’t securing the shoreline we were watching planes take off or land. Then it was back to building walls. The kids discovered that water weeds and pebbles work better than the beach sand. It was a wonderful hour at the park and after a snack, and Tim deciding to break the “No Wading” rule, we herded the kids back onto the bikes and headed home.